The 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals declined on Tuesday to stay a district court ruling from last week that struck down South Carolina's gay marriage ban, meaning same-sex weddings could happen there as soon as Thursday.
South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson, a Republican, said his office would ask the US Supreme Court to stay the district court's ruling.
"Today's ruling by the Fourth Circuit does not end the constitutional obligation of this Office to defend South Carolina law," Wilson said in a statement.
South Carolina would become the 34th US state to allow gay marriage if it is allowed to go ahead.
In separate court action on South Carolina's same-sex marriage ban on Tuesday, US District Court Judge Michelle Childs ruled that the state must recognize same-sex marriages of couples wed outside its borders.
The US Supreme Court last week rejected a stay application filed by Kansas officials similar to the one filed by South Carolina officials. Like South Carolina, Kansas was bound by a regional appeals court ruling that struck down bans in other states.
That same day, US District Judge Richard Gergel ruled that South Carolina was bound by the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals decision striking down a similar law in Virginia. Gergel put his ruling on hold for a week to allow the state time to appeal.
Although gay marriage advocates have had the advantage in the courts over the past year, a Cincinnati-based federal appeals court on Nov. 6 became the first to uphold gay marriage bans.
That decision by the 6th US Circuit Court of Appeals backing four states' bans created a split within the courts, increasing the chances the Supreme Court will rule once and forall on whether states can ban gay marriage.
The high court has so far declined to take up cases that would lead to a definitive ruling on gay marriage, allowing gay marriage to proceed in five states when it refused to hear appeals in seven cases in October.
Colleen Condon, a plaintiff in the South Carolina case who was denied a marriage license in Charleston last month, said in a statement on Tuesday that she and her fiancée were looking forward to tying the knot.
"We are ecstatic as we get ready to go pick up our license at noon on Thursday," Condon said.
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